See other Activism Articles
Title: Baez is Back! Takes Camp Casey by Storm
Source:
Texas Iconoclast
URL Source: http://198.65.14.85/News/2005/31-40/34news01.htm
Published: Aug 22, 2005
Author: Gene Ellis
Post Date: 2005-08-23 15:34:56 by Lod
Keywords: Back!, Takes, Casey
Views: 1716
Comments: 77
CRAWFORD — Shortly after Joan Baez arrived Sunday afternoon at Camp Casey II, she gave a press conference with the Gold Star Families, all of whom have lost loved ones in the war. She talked with them, and she cried with them. Ms. Baez returned to the trailer to prepare for her performance, speaking only in whispers when it was necessary to speak at all, saving her voice. She gave a moving performance, peppered with energy, emotion, humor, and humanity. She even showed compassion for President Bush, although she disagrees with him. She said she doesn’t make Bush jokes any more because they often offend more conservative folks, and that isn’t helping anything. At one point, she laughingly forgot the line “keeping things vague” in the song “Diamonds and Rust,” and the audience helped her out. When she consulted a paper during the performance, holding it at arm’s length, she joked, “I get these brilliant ideas and then they fade from my mind, plus I can’t read any more.” Despite her good humor about aging, time has been very kind to Joan Baez. She is a lovely, compelling woman. Ms. Baez told the crowd that she had only picked up the guitar again a week and a half ago and will go on tour in September. She claimed her fingers were like spaghetti, and that she didn’t remember words. “My mother says, ‘Did I take my ginko balboa today?’ and I say, ‘I don’t remember!’” She sang “Joe Hill” in response to a request. Saying that the phrase “in harm’s way” was a euphemism for “sitting ducks,” she put down her guitar and sang “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” without accompaniment. Her voice rang sweet and true. Ms. Baez suggested that if the mothers really wanted catharsis, they could sing along with her “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” Emotions ran high as many in the crowd of perhaps five or six hundred wept openly. At the end of the song, she said, “You know, I have to manage to get through it, too.” Ms. Baez sang “Gracias a la Vida” and several favorites from her long career. She thanked the group for having her here, then admitted she purchased her ticket to Texas before the invitation arrived. After her performance, she graciously talked with several individuals in a dark area near her trailer. Three of these were veterans. Two were mothers who had lost their sons in Iraq. She hugged them and cried with them. Camp bugler and Iraq war veteran Jeff Key, in an unplanned and completely spontaneous moment, took Ms. Baez’s hand. He led her to a spot before the many crosses that have been placed at the front of the camp. She was beside him, a diminutive woman beside a tall, strong young man, as he blew taps in the moonlight to a large, respectful crowd. He saluted. They hugged. And there was complete and total silence. When Ms. Baez returned to her private area behind the trailer, she sat down at a table, dropped her head into her folded arms, and wept. +++++ Be sure and visit the source for pictures.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 42.
#10. To: lodwick (#0)
look here...the group appears to be mostly middle aged average Americans..
I love this song.
Trivia time - do you know who she is talking to in that song? No fair googling.
no, tell us. lodwick and i were wondering.
My understanding is she wrote it about Bob Dylan. They were dating/couple at some point. He wrote her back with "You've got a lot of nerve"
Unless she was mis-leading us about the blue eyes, it was NOT Dylan. Hell, most all of us were "dating" back then...if only for a couple of hours or so. More research is required here.
#43. To: lodwick, christine (#42)
Are you calling William Ruhlmann a LIAR? :)
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#11. To: All (#10)
#38. To: christine (#11)
Diamonds and Rust
#39. To: Dakmar, Lodwick (#38)
#41. To: christine, lodwick (#39)
#42. To: Dakmar (#41)
Replies to Comment # 42. But the real hit was the title track, a self-penned masterpiece on the singer's favorite subject, her relationship with Bob Dylan. Outdoing the current crop of confessional singer/songwriters at soul baring, Baez sang to Dylan, reminiscing about her '60s love affair with him intensely, affectionately, and unsentimentally. It was her finest moment as a songwriter and one of her finest performances, period, and when A&M finally released it on 45, it made the Top 40, propelling the album to gold status. But those who bought the disc for "Diamonds & Rust" also got to hear "Winds of the Old Days," in which Baez forgave Dylan for abandoning the protest movement, as well as the jazzy "Children and All That Jazz," a delightful song about motherhood, and the wordless vocals of "Dida," a duet with Joni Mitchell accompanied by Mitchell's backup band...
End Trace Mode for Comment # 42.